Drama Playbook - Series 2 Success Stories from Aframe Customers
Drama Production Playbook - Series 2
Success Stories from Aframe Customers
x Introduction To This Playbook <
So what exactly is a playbook? In sporting terms, a playbook is the set of plans the coach uses to ensure the team succeeds. For Aframe, these ‘plays’ are really just a metaphorical device to bring together a series of different workflows that might be employed by a particular television project, in this case Drama production.
While the scripted nature of drama means shoot ratios are comparatively lower than for unscripted, there is still a prerequisite to review the day’s rushes as quickly as possible. Most TV dramas tend to be a co-production so input is amassed from a host of collaborators, often found in disparate locations. It’s common practice that a lot of preparatory work is performed before filming starts – such as camera tests, casting, location recces and test shoots. That material then needs to be reviewed and shared around. The secrecy around plotlines (especially for continuing dramas and soaps) means footage has to be distributed with absolute security. This playbook reveals four key workflows that enable productions to circumvent these challenges efficiently and securely:
• Getting access to the day’s rushes in its native camera format quickly and efficiently. • Simplifying the review and approval process. • Efficient collaboration between globally dispersed teams. • Cloud powered post production.
The three productions featured in this playbook represent some of the UK’s finest recent drama output; the BAFTA Award winning gangster series ‘Peaky Blinders’ produced by Tiger Aspect and Drama Republic’s political thriller ‘The Honourable Woman’ both occupied primetime slots for the BBC, whilst Darlow Smithson Productions brilliantly serialized the Industrial Revolution in Channel Four’s ‘The Mill’ with post-production managed by Timeline TV in MediaCityUK.
This playbook gives an insight into the speed and flexibility of a powerful solution used on some of the most creatively challenging workflows in TV.
Find out more at aframe.com.
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Blindingly Fast Review & Approval
Tiger Aspect Productions, part of the Endemol Group are internationally recognized as one of the UK’s most prolific producers of drama, entertainment and factual shows.
Their latest drama commission revolves around a gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham just after World War 1. The story centres on the historic Peaky Blinders gang who sewed razor blades in the peaks of their caps and their fierce boss, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), who means to move up in the world. Series two brings Hollywood star Tom Hardy into the fold, seeking revenge for Tommy’s past.
The successful delivery of media movement on the production of the crime series ‘Ripper Street’, provided the catalyst for Tiger Aspect to extend their allegiance with Aframe’s specialist software for the production of award winning show, ‘Peaky Blinders’.
Challenge
Filming of the second series would feature a multitude of settings including Leeds, Bradford, Keighley, Manchester, Liverpool and Birkenhead. Sending media to and from multiple destinations involves managing the transfer of very large amounts of complicated video data. In many cases this involves sending drives by courier or struggling with on-premise solutions.
The producers on ‘Peaky Blinders’ required a platform that would allow them to work around the UK without costly hardware, software or training. They would need to handle the entire production online and be able to quickly share footage, feedback and any edits securely with a large number of executives on the move.
Solution
The drama department benefited strongly from sharing a common workspace tailored specifically to the requirements of the second series. Dailies, along with associated metadata, were all stored on Aframe and made accessible, instantaneously, to anyone involved in the project – no dedicated hardware or software was required.
Being device and location agnostic meant executives could review, log, annotate and download what was being filmed as it was uploaded. Aframe’s multi-format ingest granted producers maximum flexibility to use any available recording device without the need to pre-transcode before it is uploaded.
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A web proxy of any clip uploaded is automatically created so users can simply email collaborators a link with expiry dates to the footage, which is viewable on a standard web browser or mobile device. This ability to view clips on the move and the option to download selected clips for offline viewing on laptops and PCs ensured that even when Tiger Aspect executives were unable to attend an edit viewing, they were still very much part of the process.
“Aframe proved its value again during the production of ‘Peaky Blinders.’ The main benefit for us is the speed of sharing footage with executive producers and the executives at BBC2. The simplicity of being able to review footage from wherever they are makes it extremely convenient, collaborative and far more cost effective than our previous methods. It has certainly aided in the quick and efficient post production of the show” said Nicky Poulton, Drama Production Manager at Tiger Aspect.
All user activity was captured and displayed on a simple dashboard so project administrators could monitor the comments and edits of each team member. What’s more, at the click of a button, Aframe’s permission controls ensured the IP was protected and collaborators could be monitored at all times - project owners had the ability to invite users and specify their level of access and functionality within each collection.
Results
Aframe provided an easier and more secure way to work than its previous dailies review process. Head of Drama Will Gould concludes: “Not only has Aframe provided significant benefits in terms of the production and post-production processes, but we continue to be impressed by its ease of use. People are comfortable with the solution and enjoy using the platform, and although we do alternate staff between productions, Aframe is so user- friendly that there is very little training needed.”
“Overall, the platform is a great asset to the team and we will continue to work with Aframe where we can on future projects.”
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Mobile Review & Approval
Drama Republic is a dynamic, new, independent television production company in the heart of London’s Soho, specialising in high quality drama.
Written, produced and directed by BAFTA winner Hugo Blick, ‘The Honourable Woman’ is an eight part political thriller starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, set against an international backdrop in the US, the Middle East and London.
Challenge
The workflow involved distributing daily rough assemblies from footage shot in the UK and Morocco to a group of exec producers, directors and editors on location and in the production office.
The production team demanded a platform that could limit access to certain members of the team, facilitate the ability to view clips on mobile devices and the option to download selected clips for offline viewing on laptops and PC’s.
Solution
Productions of this scale often use standalone digital dailies systems that are costly and hard touse. Aframe’s cloud video platform allowed cuts to be uploaded swiftly, stored securely in the cloud and made ready for review immediately to a geographically dispersed team of professionals on the move – without the need of expensive hardware.
Drama Republic had edit assistants upload proxies to Aframe’s secure private cloud, where Aframe created a link to the clips and automatically sent it with an expiration date to team members and execs, who could review and approve content online, or download it for viewing offline.
“With over three months’ worth of filming on location in the UK and Morocco, Aframe gave us a platform that let all our production team keep in touch with the latest cuts and promos each day – across our entire workflow” said Susy Liddell, Director of Production for Drama Republic.
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Aframe’s accelerated web uploader and desktop app are able to deliver over 15x faster uploads than FTP and with far greater reliability; with the ability to pause and resume and intelligently handle connectivity issues to avoid corrupt files and frustrating restarts. When reviewing the footage, Drama Republic were able to stay on top of the edit and provide feedback on changes that needed to be made. This permitted editors to generate a faster turnaround in decision-making and deliver a more cost effective edit.
Project administrators could control who had access to the media with Aframe’s permissions structure and share links with expiry dates, ensuring that IP was protected and monitored at all times. Coupled with Aframe’s multi-layered cloud infrastructure and FACT certification, Drama Republic’s content was completely safe in the cloud.
Results
“We appreciated the added peace of mind that Aframe provided in letting us control who could view content, x and during specified time windows – while still being easy to use for everyone. That includes the edit assistant
doing the uploading and sharing, to the producers and directors viewing content on mobile devices.” Susy Liddell,
x Director of Production for Drama Republic. <
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Nationwide Distribution of Digital Dailies
Channel 4’s highest-rating drama of 2013, ‘The Mill’, now in its second series recounts the period between 1838-1842, focusing on the lives of the mill workers against a backdrop of turbulent social, political and industrial change.
Darlow Smithson Productions produced the period drama whilst Timeline TV was responsible for managing post-production. Historical characters and events were combined to create a compelling costume drama that gripped an average audience of 3.2 million per episode.
Challenge
Production houses routinely amalgamate footage from a host of contributors and camera formats into a single project space. They face inevitable delays and complexities when moving footage out of the camera and into the production workflow, often making it difficult to coordinate notes and approvals from multiple sources efficiently.
Solution
A workflow was designed that would best improve the automation of moving media assets. Aframe’s cloud video platform allowed dailies to be uploaded swiftly in single sessions, stored securely in the cloud and made ready for distribution immediately to a geographically dispersed team of executives on the move.
The production was shot using the ARRI Alexa digital camera system in 2K both on location in Cheshire and at MediaCity’s Pie Factory. The edit was made using Avid Symphony, with the daily edits being uploaded via the latest UDP file transfer technology built into Aframe’s cloud. Aframe’s automatic proxy transcode enabled footage to be reviewed by any collaborator on a standard web browser – eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming hardware implementations.
“Aframe allows you to organise media without actually editing it. Our whole team can access the full-resolution media wherever and whenever they need it, while still being able to generate viewing proxies for easy review by
others.” Eben Clancy, Director of Post Production at Timeline TV North. < x
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Aframe is device and location agnostic, which meant that even though the scenes were filmed in Cheshire, ‘The Mill’s’ director of photography, the DSP production team and Channel 4 executives could review, log, annotate and download what was being filmed as it was uploaded.
Eben Clancy continued, “The ease of using the cloud for this production was such an added bonus for us. It allowed all our teams to collaborate and choose workflows that worked for them, from any location on any device. The flexibility this gives you when dealing with a large range of collaborators is invaluable.”
When reviewing the footage, executives were able to select the best takes from the day and create frame accurate timecode comments, ensuring they’d captured what they needed before reaching the edit. This prevented the need for costly re-shoots at a later date as issues like audio and lighting problems would only traditionally be picked up in the edit suite.
On this occasion Aframe helped the team realise that the content shot may potentially be too dark to broadcast, which would have required scenes to be re-shot, potentially a hugely expensive and time- consuming task. Timeline TV was able to run through a post process of the footage and reassure the production team that the issue could be fixed in post-production.
Results
“We chose to use Aframe again because we have always found the platform to be secure, easy to manage and with full-resolution capabilities that we have not been able to find elsewhere.” Eben Clancy, Director of Post Production at Timeline TV North.
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Central Video Platform Asset Monetization Aframe is a cloud collaboration platform that Commercial teams can create online catalogues, provides one central location for global teams and sales kits and screeners to improve professionalism international partners to access and manage high and customer service. The central cloud platform resolution video. Trusted by the world’s largest overcomes the commercial and technical organizations, Aframe is the only solution to challenges of securely managing and distributing combine fast UDP upload, transcoding, metadata assets to improve partner communications, support, video player, dynamic search, online streamline the sales process, broaden sales reach review and approval, and analytics. and ultimately increase revenue.
Media Management & Collaboration Production Aframe’s central platform helps marketing, promos Aframe reduces the complexity of managing and reversioning groups take control of their media across all types of production. Cloud- assets and manage them more effectively. With powered workflows means everyone, wherever less time spent wrestling with technical issues, they are based, has instant access to the content teams can be more productive and make more they need from one central place. By reducing use of assets. the barriers of production, teams can focus on creating the highest quality content and complete productions in record time.
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